i mean they have a really solid team on paper if everyone is available. Irving Curry Durant Simmons Claxton i'd estimate that as a 55-60 win team if it all clicks.
That's gonna be a horrible (and funny) work environment knowing approximately all the good players on that team want out. But yeah, they're loaded, so if they manage to be adults (lol) Simmons, Durant, and Irving could realistically pull a Kobe/Shaq and win a chip while hating each other/environment.
Mid December when Ant plus maybe Nurk could be traded. But that really risks them patching things up in Brooklyn. I still think an Eric Bledsoe/Hart/Sharpe/Little/etc boatload of picks offer may have been able to get this trade done. Possibly needed a 3rd team to flip vets to Brooklyn which could've been possible. Maybe only 1-5% likely, maybe it would've been much more likely. But it would've made the Blazers a legit contender. Instead we got "Hard Cap" on the roster as our 7th guard.
I don't think it's painful, but it is, what it is. Portland is a great basketball city, PERIOD! But Who knows what's really inside KD's head. He's all over the place. If he wanted to show how truly great he is, go to a smaller market and prove it. I just don't see any offer being good enough for the Nets. And Phoenix, and Miami, sure as hell can't put a package together to make sense for the Nets. Personally , i like Ant, Little, and Sharpe's potential more than anything those two teams could include. Any draft capital is going to be in the future anyways. If's it's truly about picks, send him back to OKC for 6 1st round picks in the next 3 years, along with SGA & fodder.
From multiple accounts including Woj, KD and Kyrie still want to be teammates. So I highly doubt it based on that. As for Simmons, who knows with him.